It’s not a pathology, but there is a dual aspect to the life of a priest—he is both a man of God and a man of the church.
The vocation to priesthood itself has this same dual aspect—the priest candidate is called both by God and by the church.
During my college days, I wrestled long and hard with whether God was calling me to be a priest. My problem was whether I was good enough for such a job. Could I be a man of God? It took me a long time to acknowledge to myself that with the grace of God it could be possible.
Later, in the major seminary the call of the church was much simpler and easier. I was invited, called to enter the clerical state—the “civil service” of the church—by the seminary authorities through the ceremony of tonsure. Subsequent calls to receive minor and then major orders with successive ceremonies of ordination culminated in priesthood.
Fidelity to these two calls and these two commitments is a constant challenge and a continuing vital tension for any priest.
To be a man of God means to be a holy, a sacred or “separated” person, not living by worldly values or ways. (In the Western Church, this is understood to involve a renouncement of marriage and family by a permanent commitment to celibacy.)
To be a man of the church means to be a public officer of the institutional church with a certain degree of authority and responsibilities for leadership, teaching and administration.
Faithfulness to the promptings of the Spirit may strain the priest’s relations with the community he serves or with ecclesiastical authorities.
Conversely, the priest’s solidarity with the local Christian community or ecclesiastical authorities may conflict with the promptings of the Spirit.
It’s not an “either-or” but a “both-and” situation. God spare us from a priest who serves people and institutions well, but not the Lord! And, a good priest may be considered a holy man, but he can’t neglect carrying out effectively the responsibilities of public office in the church.
An often neglected aspect to responding to the call of God is that it is a continuing, never-ending challenge of discernment. It’s not that God changes his mind but that his plan for us may have many twists and turns, up and downs, and successes and failures (due to our blindness, deafness, and insensitivity to his providential action in our lives).
The call of the church generally presumes a “death till us part” type of commitment-unless, of course, the priest is disabled, retired, or severely disciplined by a kind of discharge or “reduction to the lay state.”
But, the call of God isn’t quite the same. For sure, our response to the call of God must be a forever commitment—but from the merely human point of view it can appear very changeable indeed. Even if it involves walking through the valley of the shadow of death, it’s still the way to go.
The church may limit or revoke its call to serve, but, as the gospel hymn says, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”
When all is said and done, the real issue for the priest—or anybody—is not duality but priority.
No matter how unexpected the promptings of the Spirit—whether leading us into or out of ministry or anywhere else—no turning back!
12 May 2019
(Developed in part from
“Guru vs. Cleric” published in
CNEWA World, 28:4, July 2002)